Not long reviews. Just something to give iPhone (and perspective iPhone owners) an idea of what's out there and whether it's worth bothering with at this early stage in iPhone game development. All opinions below are my own. all screenshots were taken off my phone. If you have a question, leave a comment.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

It's a good looking game and pretty fun. It's on rails, meaning you don't control where the character goes. you only control combat decisions by drawing patterns with your finger on the screen. Good looking graphics, servicable sound. Game does save on return to home.

Dream's opinion: pick it up

=============================================

Big Bang Board Games


Big Bang is a compilation of games (Chess, Checkers, Reversi, Mancala, 4 in a row, Backgammon, Tic Tac Toe). Professionally done and beautifully executed, I'd recommend this suite of games to anyone who enjoys the above games. I can't speak to the difficulty level of the AI in the games, but there is a "Master Difficulty" and option to choose if the player or AI goes first. No 2 player options.

Dream's opinion: pick it up


============================================

Monkey Ball


Monkey ball is a true Monkey Ball game. Personally, I find it a bit difficult to control with tilting, but you may enjoy it more like that. great graphics and high production value.

Dream's opinion: pick it up, if you like Monkey Ball. others will find the controls a turn-off, I suspect.

============================================

Texas Hold'em

High quality Texas Hold'Em game with varying levels of challenge (indicated by "cost" to play in each venue). provides single player and online multiplayer gaming. If you like Texas Hold'Em, your choice here is clear. It's a must.

Dream's opinion: pick it up

=============================================

Blackjack 21

Decent blackjack game. Simple to play with clean graphics. Even has random achievements. lol.

Dream's opinion: pick it up if you need blackjack.

=============================================

Tap Tap Revenge

Let's face it: this app was better when it was only available for jailbroken phones. There was a time when this app allowed you to take any song in your music library and add your own taps to the music. then you could go back and play them. Big fun. Now, you have to select from the handful of songs they have available that you probably won't like. In genres that you might not like.

if they go back to allowing users to use their own mp3's to play songs, this app will go back to being made of win. But as it is now, it feels like an empty shell of what made it great. too bad.

If I could still get the old version, I would.

Dream's opinion: pass for now.


=============================================

Tetris

Professionally made by EA, it's good old Tetris as you'd expect it to be. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dream's opinion: pick it up


=============================================

Critter Crunch

an unusual puzzle game in the vein of Tetris, where you feed smaller critters to bigger critters in order to get them to over-eat, explode and blow up adjacent critters of equal size. It makes more sense when you see it. Think Bejeweled and Tetris crossed.

Dream's opinion: pass

=============================================

Line Rider

It's Line Rider. lol. iPhone edition allows you to share your tracks or download tracks from others via your linerider.com account. Extra options include Draw & Pan, Night Ride, and Gravity Tilt.

Dream's opinion: pick it up

=============================================

Funky Punch

The first fighting game for the iPhone. It's pretty cute and pretty functional.

Dream's opinion: pass unless youre desperate for a fighting game.

=============================================

Brain Challenge


Another game with very high production value. If you're into DS games like Brain Age or Brain Training, this is a game to have. Just as good as if not better than those. All the same kinds of features as those games.

Dream's opinion: pick it up

=============================================

Stone of Destiny


Ultimately, it's something of a Where's waldo game with a timer where you find objects in a picture. Some objects are genuinely hard to find. Cool "passing the time" game. Pretty high quality production in this game. game does save on return to home.

Dream's opinion: pass

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All in all, there are some good games and some misses. Brain Challenge stands out as the biggest winner. Star Wars, Texas Hold 'Em, Big Bang and Monkey Ball are also excellent options.

Considering devs only began bringing games to the platform 3 months ago, I expect the future of iPhone gaming to be bright indeed.

A month ago, I started out on a journey to rectify the clear and obvious need I found in Soul Calibur IV: an inability to pull off serious moves with precision. It was a simple issue of the imperfections inherent to a controller. Buttons are small and hard to push combinations of easily. DPads are questionable...particularly on the 360. So I decided I needed an arcade stick and began researching them. One thing lead to another and I found myself searching for a PS3/360 arcade stick (or one that could be made to work with both). I found some people who could create what I needed...and now it's here. All tricked out and ready for the world to see.

How it came, straight from Japan:





HRAP 3, fresh out of the box and sitting next to my (now deceased) Hori DOA4 fighting stick:




Needless to say, it absolutely dwarfs the DOA4 stick. It's also noticeably heavier and sturdier.

Insides:




close-up of the 360 controller PCB. all his work was done very well upon close inspection and hot-glued down to make sure it lasts:




Mode switch installed (inside is PS3/PC, outside is for 360)




...and I also ordered some better buttons, an octogonal restrictor and a bat top from a different store in Japan. those came today and I finished the work. final stick results are below:






Stick impressions: The stick is excellent. A huge leap up from the loose, imprecise stick found in the DOA4 stick (and similar HORI sticks under $60).

Button impressions: The buttons the HRAP3 comes with are servicable and fine for beginners, I think. But for those that want to get a bit more precision and strength in their game will want to upgrade to Sanwa/Seimitsu buttons. They will make a noticeable difference and are available from a couple of good online stores.

360/PS3 switch impressions: Operates as advertised. Simple as flipping the switch.

Compatibility testing: Works flawlessly on SC4 (PS3), TekkenR (PS3), Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (PC), Capcom vs SNK 2 (PC), DoA4 (360), Street Fighter 2:HF (360). No complaints or issues to speak of.

Size impressions: Looks large to the eye. Perhaps it just IS large. It stands 3" tall at its highest (in the back) and 2.75" in the front. Maybe 15.5" wide in the back and ~14.8" in the front. But it doesn't feel cumbersome in your lap, so it's cool with me. The more space for your hands makes it feel more comfortable, IMO.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with the new stick. It puts the Hori DOA4 stick I had to shame. and that was before the new buttons. now, it's just exquisite. switching from console to console is a simple matter of flipping that switch. the home button becomes the guide button and all other buttons work perfectly.

HRAP 3 is easy to recommend to anyone if you can find one (they're tough to catch in stock) and are willing to pay the price for one ($110-$150 online, depending). The fact that it works for the 360 now means the exact same quality of stick no matter what I want to hook it up to. They're not easy to modify for 360 compatability, but there are a few people out there who do the work for a somewhat reasonable price. All buttons have quick disconnects allowing for easy swapping, should you chose to buy some new ones.

In the end, I give this thing a 9/10 because of the price.

It'll be a 10/10 when I finally get used to having an arcade stick. All these years of controllers for fighting games....ugh...I really did cheat myself. All those combos and button-press combinations that are nigh impossible on a controller come with ease now. I wouldn't give this thing up for the world.

If you want the information of the guy I got the HRAP 3 from...or the guy that modded the stick for me...or the guy that I bought the buttons, restrictor and bat top from, just leave a message here (my PM box is almost full) and I'll PM you that information. Doing business with them was great.

The journey that started a month ago has finally been completed. I feel ready for SF4, BlazBlue, Tatsukono vs. Capcom and whatever else is coming over the next few years. See you boys and girls online.

*Special thanks to BlackBond for pointing me in some directions while I was taking my first steps into the real arcade stick world*

We got this one instead. '07 with 5 miles on her. Diamond black. Holds its value more...looks a bit more regal.

Gino the salesman, showing dad how the gizmos work. Nice guy.

Teh dash.

Teh profile.

Teh butt.

Teh dad...well pleased with his purchase.

Friends, this is how a car looks when properly waxed.

Yep...I get to take the ride out this weekend. Oh snap!

Coming to rest. Her first time in the junky garage. That thing fits in the garage by about 6 inches total.

It's a pretty nice ride. If you find yourself in Southeast Florida, hit me up. We'll go for a ride.

notice the lights under the door handles

made of all kinds of WIN.

here are the pics of my new twin-turbo girlfriend


My old baby...with the new baby just behind her.


A little of the Lord's rain


Driver's side


Backseat view


Vroom.


Sex.